ABOUT DUNCAN

His successful career all began as a Corporate Event Planner until his tenure as Catering Manager for luxury hotels such as The Portman Hotel and The Pan Pacific Hotel San Francisco, The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco & Chicago, General Manager and Director of Events at The Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Building, and at the historic Westin St. Francis Hotel San Francisco as their Catering Manager for Weddings and Social Events.

His impressive accolades have given him credentials to recognize him as an Independent Food Editor, Restaurant Critic and a Contributing Writer for San Francisco, Chicago and New York media publications. Spanning over 30 years in Wedding, Corporate and Social Event Planning, his passion has taken him to new career heights that led him to create F. Duncan Reyes Events By Design and is renowned as the Event Industry’s most Premiere Wedding and Event Planner Extraordinnaire. In January 2009, he was honored by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Top 100 New Businesses for 2009 and as published in their “Book of Lists 2009”. Duncan is a member of the National Association of Catered Events both for the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Chapters, and was voted in April 2010 as NACE’S “Member of the Year”. And just recently in January 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, was recognized by WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards for Wedding Planning. Committed to creating special events that are as distinctive as his clientele, he creates and executes flawless affairs with sophistication and panache yet with a personable approach that represent your own unique style, exceeding expectations for the planning and design experience. The myriad of Weddings, Corporate and Social Events accommodate all requests large and small with a touch of class. With years of experience conceptualizing ideas, themes and budgets for all events, his capabilities and resources are endless in an effort to create memories that will last a lifetime.

The couple met in Chicago back in 2010. The groom was a professional golfer at the time and the bride was pursuing medical school. On May 5, 2010, David’s 25th birthday, he convinced Jordan to meet with him on a first “official” date. Although Jordan paid the tab (David always has to point out ‘it was his birthday!’, it was very clearly love at first sight and their relationship blossomed despite career changes, long distance, and attending different medical schools.

THE PROPOSAL

Jordan’s golden birthday was February 27, 2014. David had been planning to propose since October and had ample time to create the perfect engagement. On February 28, 2014, he had arranged for his family from Wisconsin and Baltimore, and her family from the San Francisco Bay Area, to fly out to Chicago where they were living together at the time to celebrate the proposal with them. David proposed by giving Jordan three gifts the day after her birthday – claiming that some gifts were “delayed by the mail.” The first, a pillowcase with the phrase “Mr.”embroidered on the front, followed by “Mrs.” and then the ring in multiple boxes that Jordan had to unwrap. The ring itself was symbolic – David designed it to sit atop the letter “M,” the first initial of his last name. After the proposal David told Jordan that there were more surprises- family had flown in to celebrate. We all spent the weekend together at some of the couple’s favorite Chicago eateries.

MAZEL TOV, MR. & MRS. DAVID & JORDAN MERKOW!

WITH GRATITUDE

“My husband and I are both medical students across the country, so planning a wedding several time zones away was going to be challenging. Additionally, I am a self-described personality type “AAA” so I knew I wanted to be as involved as I could in the wedding planning process but also have someone on my team that I could entrust with all other details when my wedding could not be prioritized. As a thorough individual, I wanted to do my due diligence in researching a wedding planner who would protect my vision, understand my neuroses, and be flexible with a demanding schedule. In the end I made a spreadsheet of 46 wedding planners – spoke to most of them over the phone and eventually landed on Duncan Reyes. Duncan was truly the brains behind our entire wedding- not to mention a complete genius when it comes to knowing who’s who in the Bay Area wedding scene. In the end Duncan did so much more than plan our wedding; he introduced us to vendors that I never would have found, answered thousands of e-mails (responding to all of them with lightning speed!), and kept meticulous records of budgets, payments, and meetings. To those of you weighing whether or not to have a wedding planner – it was an absolute must for us and really allowed us to enjoy the wedding planning process and most importantly our wedding day. Duncan Reyes truly has our highest recommendation and is a pleasure to work with. He coordinated our wedding, dealt with crazy nuances (and personalities), and handled all stress and anxiety with poise and grace. Several weeks have gone by and we are still getting endless compliments on our wedding and wedding weekend. Duncan absolutely knows how to make YOUR special vision come to life in the most vibrant and fabulous form. Most importantly, my husband and I were beyond floored our wedding day and would not have changed a thing.” – Jordan Scher Merkow

THE “DREAM TEAM”

“It was crucial to have vendors that I trusted and could be myself with. The wedding planning and photography were two areas that I really cared about – and I am thrilled that throughout the planning and the wedding I really feel like both the photographer and planner are true friends. On the actual wedding it was great to see the dance floor packed and people inhale their appetizers and dinner – so clearly a major applause must go to the entertainment (strings, band and DJ) along with the catering team. What left me the most speechless were our florals, they are absolutely breathtaking and completely magical. David is most excited about seeing our wedding video, and we have loved getting to know our videographer Dave Etheridge throughout the past year as well. We’ve been so lucky with our vendors!” — Jordan Scher Merkow

“So many paths to choose from — yet a moment here, a different turn there, and you may never have met to experience a love so right! Isn’t it amazing the way life works? Here’s wishing each new day finds your hearts closer, your lives fuller, your love deeper. May your love bloom brighter and your companionship grow sweeter with each passing year. To a beautiful life together!” — Duncan

I had the pleasure of first meeting Analynn & Arnel as a referral from my wonderful sister, Varinia Siefker. It sure makes me feel pretty blessed to be able to help create the wedding of their dreams which will be held on Saturday, August 6th at the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel in Millbrae. They are so sweet together, unmatched and they speak love to each other without saying anything. I absolutely love how they love. That alone makes it all worthwhile when you plan a Wedding for such great people. The kind of people who hugs everyone repeatedly. And both Analynn & Arnel were certainly that.

Fairy tales really do come true, and for Katelyn & Jeff, they embody all of them. Humble, heartwarming, enthusiastic, fun and loving – these are all the key elements to a wonderful marriage. And for this fabulous couple, we pulled out all the stops to make their Wedding become a reality, and it certainly proved to be just that – a magical affair.

Congratulations again to both of you … we’re all so very happy to have been a part of your beautiful day. Here’s to a Honeymoon that will last forever!

Thanks to my incredible team of Wedding Vendors who created a gorgeous Wedding for Katelyn & Jeff … you are all stellar at what you do!

Once in a while, you come across someone that has an infectious smile … the one you envy … a smile that is always showing and full of joy. If they smile at you, there’s no chance that you can’t help but smile back. If you catch them smiling at each other, there’s no doubt in your heart that they are head over heels in love. Kristy is one of those people, and Ray definitely brings it out in her. It’s no wonder these two are perfect for each other.

To the new “Mr. & Mrs. Ray Minehan” — sometimes it is hard to believe that somewhere there is someone waiting for you, but now you both know how inevitable it is and how beautiful fate could be. May you carry all the colors of love, luck, care, hope and happiness that is in store for both of you, with a blissful life ahead.

My heartfelt thanks to my special team of “Wedding Magicians” for helping me create a memorable Wedding that Kristy & Ray will long remember.

” Over the winter holidays, Rob and I went on a gorgeous vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with his eldest brother Brian, his wife Gail and their kids Sydney and Jon. On 12/26/14 Rob asked if I wanted to wake up early the next morning and watch the sunrise. I wasn’t terribly keen on an early wake up call but I was delighted to soak up a little romance with my love – of course I agreed! Little did I know what big plans he had in store for us that morning. We strolled along the very desolate beach looking for the perfect place to watch. We walked out onto a tiny peninsula that jetted out into the ocean and sat cuddling with our feet dangling over the rocks. We had a lovely conversation filled with lots of laughs as we checked our iphone apps to see what time the rays were supposed to greet us. The sun had other plans as we watched ominous grey clouds roll in. All I remember is jumping up to suggest we get some breakfast in effort to miss the rain. I turned around and before I could even process what was happening, Rob was down on one knee. I’ll let him tell the rest…. ‘At sunrise, this morning (12/27/14) at 7:29, on the beginning of a new day, I asked Morgan for a new beginning…. she said YES!!’. Everyday I look at my beautiful ring and think about how lucky I am that I have Rob, my Beshert (Jewish notion of a soul mate). We are forever grateful that we both moved 2,000 miles West to find our forever Chicago match. ” — Morgan Tobor Kayman

WITH GRATITUDE

” We want to thank you so very much for all you did in planning our Wedding! You are/were fabulous; your knowledge and expertise were so helpful. But most of all, you made our Wedding Day smooth, effortless and easy. We actually got to enjoy it. All your vendor recommendations were spot on too! My co-workers kept telling me ‘Morgan, you’re so calm”. My answer was ‘it’s because I have the best, most knowledgable, fun, energetic Coordinator there is!’. And thank you for your speedy responses, attention to detail, vision, care and love. Thank you for making our Wedding such a special lifelong memory! ” — Morgan Tobor & Rob Kayman

To Morgan & Rob – Where you invest your Love, you invest your Life. Wishing you both a lifetime of Love, Happiness & Joy. MAZEL TOV!!!

And my heartfelt gratitude to my incredible Team of Wedding Pros who helped me make their Wedding a beautiful dream come true – KUDOS!